Museumseisenbahn Hanau e. V.

In Hanau's urban landscape, the Bahnbetriebswerk Hanau now marks the site of the Museumseisenbahn Hanau and recalls its former role in regional rail transport.

The first facilities were built in 1876 at Hanau West station at the so‑called Wiener Spitze. Because these capacities soon proved inadequate, construction of a larger locomotive depot began in 1904 southeast of the then Ostbahnhof (now Hauptbahnhof); the Maschinenamt Hanau was established on 1 April 1906, and construction was completed in 1907. The new complex comprised two roundhouses, two turntables, a large locomotive workshop and an administrative building. It primarily served rail freight traffic; the older facilities were initially retained for passenger and shunting locomotives and later used as a local freight yard, before this area was closed around 1920.

During World War II the locomotive depot was repeatedly targeted by Allied air raids. Particularly heavy attacks occurred on 5 and 10 November 1944; during the operation on 10 November, 2,250 general-purpose bombs (more than 100 tonnes) were dropped, resulting in the loss of nine locomotives, 15 freight wagons and one engine shed. Further attacks took place in December 1944, in January and February 1945, and on 19 March 1945; in the latter attack one of the new works' roundhouses was destroyed and the installations at the Wiener Spitze were not rebuilt. On 25 March 1945 the railway facilities again came under fire in connection with an American bridgehead in Großauheim.

On 7 April 1945 an American railway operations company took over management, but withdrew from operational activities on 15 October 1945. Locomotive allocation was discontinued in November 1982; on 1 October 1990 it was incorporated into Bahnbetriebswerk II Frankfurt. The decommissioned locomotive depot now forms part of the Route der Industriekultur Rhein‑Main.

The Museumseisenbahn Hanau was founded in May 1988 as the registered association Dampfbahnfreunde Kahlgrund e. V. and was renamed Museumseisenbahn Hanau e. V. in May 2001. To preserve the facilities, the Stiftung Bahnbetriebswerk Hanau was established in April 2010, which the city of Hanau also joined that same year. The association displays its vehicles at roundhouse festivals and runs special trips in the Rhine‑Main area, mainly with the steam locomotive 50 3552, which has been in the association's ownership since 2005. Both turntables have been preserved; one roundhouse is intact, another only partially.